DENVER — The Rangers were up by a goal at the tail end of the first period when Artemi Panarin coughed up the puck along the boards.
Flipping it to the middle of the ice, the star Russian wing handed possession back to the Avalanche on their way to evening the score at one-all.
Martin Neces’ feed ricocheted off the skate of Vladislav Gavrikov to Nathan MacKinnon at the back post for an easy tap-in.
The goal came with roughly 26 seconds left in the first period.
“I thought I [saw] someone in the middle, but no one [was] there,” said Panarin, who admitted that he needed to rewatch the play to fully comment on it.
It was one of a couple defensive-zone blunders from No. 10 in the Rangers’ 6-3 loss to the Avs Thursday night.
“I’ve had a lot of conversations with Artemi throughout the course of the season,” head coach Mike Sullivan said after the loss. “We don’t expect him to be the best defensive player out there, but everyone’s required to play defense — and that’s the conversation that we have. Everybody’s got to be committed to play defense to a certain level or it’s going to be hard for us to win consistently.
“And those are the conversations that I’ve had with him is just recognizing when those situations are when you’ve got to lock down.“Everybody knows he drives offense, he’s a talented player. But I think he’s also capable of defending when he’s committed.”
Amid a season-long struggle to put the puck in the back of the net, the Blueshirts deployed their ninth different trio of players on the top line Thursday night.
Panarin, Vincent Trocheck and J.T. Miller comprised the first unit together for the first time this season.
“We’re trying to find some combinations here that give us a more consistent threat offensively,” Sullivan said of the lineup changes after morning skate on Thursday. “Although I think Troch’s line has [driven] a lot of offense, I feel like Mika and J.T., in the last handful of games, haven’t been as effective offensively.
“Sometimes, to effect a little bit of change from a personnel standpoint can help those guys capture their best games,” Sullivan said. “We reconfigured the top six to see if we can get more consistent threats there.”
Eight different players have occupied the top line so far this season, including rookie Gabe Perreault, who skated with Zibanejad and Miller in all three of his NHL appearances before he was returned to Hartford last weekend.
Though Panarin, Zibanejad, Miller and Alexis Lafrenière have been the closest to regulars on the first unit, Will Cuylle, Taylor Raddysh and Conor Sheary have also gotten opportunities on the wing of that line.
Despite returning to the Rangers lineup at Vegas, Will Borgen was back on the sidelines with an upper-body injury and did not play against the Avs.
Sullivan confirmed it was the same upper-body injury that sidelined him Nov. 15 and 16, noting it would be something the Rangers would have to “manage accordingly” moving forward.
Juuso Parssinen and Urho Vaakanainen were the Rangers healthy scratches Thursday night.
The game against the Avalanche counted as Parssinen’s ninth time serving as a healthy scratch, while Vaakanainen has now watched from the press box on eight occasions this season either with a lower-body injury (two games) or as a healthy scratch (six games).
Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin stopped 29 of the 33 shots he faced in his eighth loss of the season.
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